Mages, ten-man raiding, and other things that are awesome.

An art Tuesday is a pretty easy post for me to do, because I’ve usually got a few things kicking around that haven’t been posted here. Although if you happen to follow me on Twitter you may have seen this.

A few weeks ago I got my Cintiq and bought Corel Painter to go along with it. Consequently I’ve been playing around with that a bit and just painting whatever took my fancy. Here’s my response to the question, “What would a draenei wedding dress look like?”

Of course I don’t know if this would be traditional so much as “What I think my own specific character would wear.” I think purple (classic draenic, natch) – pretty modest but with plenty of jewelery and other ornamentation. I’m not a fashion designer but I’m happy enough with this – along with a bouquet of Dreaming Glory to top it all off.

If you don’t like draenei (what’s wrong with you?) what do you think your favourite race would wear to their nuptials/racial equivalent?

Comments on: "Tuesday Art Day: More Draenei (Unsurprisingly)" (37)

If you don’t like draenei (what’s wrong with you?) what do you think your favourite race would wear to their nuptials/racial equivalent?

BE’s: Male would be red and gold, kind of like a formal Chinese outfit. Female could go with red dress with gold trim, or white with interweaving patterns of red and gold. I’d imagine that those members of certain organizations, such as Blood Knights or Farstriders, would wear a formal uniform much like those in the military today.

I would presume that those BEs who are members of the Kirin Tor/Sunreavers or Scryers would wear an outfit that evokes their colors.

Oh, and I’m not typically one to say it, but the ornaments on the horns was a nice touch, Vid.

That’s interesting. I forget that Blood Elves – sharing a common ancestry with Night Elves – would have similar Asian influences to their fashion etc. Although their architecture and the like really doesn’t – they seem to have had a rather divisive split there! I’m definitely feeling the red and gold, though. Maybe with some pink. They seem to like red, gold, and pink. Or cream!

Voss and I agreed that probably folks accustomed to wearing armour would wear it to a wedding, as the military uniform just like you say.

And thanks, Red. It was just a silly flight of fancy but I had fun with the little details. :D

I thought of red and gold to match the Sindorei color scheme, and from there I just made the leap to a Chinese style outfit. I could see the Queldorei doing the same thing, only with blue and silver.

Which reminds me… did you see Ghostlands is getting flying in 4.1? I’m sure that Zul’Aman coming back is part of it, but I’d imagine that the other BC starting areas aren’t too far away now. Quel’Danas, on the other hand, might not be possible due to the flying Sunfury attackers.

Oh, I like this idea — and the idea that the Quel’dorei would do something very similar only in blue and silver — very much. Perhaps the bride’s dress would be styled similarly to what Anya or Ksendra is wearing in this page (and following pages) of the Phoenix Requiem.

Yes, Anya’s dress would work for a style, with the grey/blue as gold, the off-white as red with the white pattern as gold. Or you could reverse the scheme to red-gold-red. Either way it would be striking.

To operate the Reaver in Dead Mines, you can wait to get in it till after you have cleared trash, and as long as you don’t let the boss attack you you will probably get the ‘Prototype prodigy’ achievement.

When you are ready to begin the fight, get in the Reaver and bring it to the bottom of the ramp. Your tank should take the boss to the top of the ramp, so the aoe from the fire adds doesn’t touch the rest of your group. You have three buttons, One is an energy builder (you’ll spam this most of the time), The next one is a blowback, and the last one is a charge. I find I can do the entirety of the fight with just the energy builder and the charge, since the charge will stun the add for several seconds.

The first add is the tricky one, since you’ll start out with 0 energy if you didn’t melee the boss. Go up to him and spam 1 on him till you have enough energy for a charge. Charge him, and spam 1 to rebuild your energy, try to get as close to cap as possible.

From this point on, charge the add when it spawns to pin it in place near the pillar in the center of the room, and use your energy building attack to bring his health down and fill your energy bar. Make sure you save enough energy to charge after you kill each add, so you can just charge right at the next one that spawns…. repeat this over and over till the rest of your group brings down the Foe Reaver.

I actually have never done the fight and not been in the reaver suit, being a rogue I am generally squishy outside of it, and practically useless against the boss with all the running around I would have to do.

Thanks for the run-down! I knew the general principle of “keep adds from reaching boss,” but I’m afraid the one time I had to do it I still failed miserably. Fortunately my guildies just laughed at me – even so it was embarrassing. Contrary to a rogue, I guess, a mage is most useful not using the reaver suit because we can pump out a lot of damage without really running much (plus blink!) But I think more importantly, we’re less useful in the suit when we muck it up spectacularly like I did. ;D

I’ve seen quite a few fan images where the feet/hooves had some sort of metal scrollworks wrapped around them, much like those things you see sometimes around the upper arm in some cultures (Torcs? Can’t remember the name). Often, they have jewels embedded as well. Drae seem to enjoy hanging jewelry off of everything, don’t they?

I think a torque is a metal neck ring! I know the upper arms thing you mean though! Some googling reveals they are called simply: arm rings? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_ring At least in English, haha.

And yes, I think they enjoy jewelery, although really in the case of Millya back when she was 1) on an RP server and 2) being RPed it was part of her story that she really overdid it with jewelry. Her father was a jeweler and it was all really sentimental so she just wore EVERYTHING, all that she’d managed to keep squirreled away over the years. This is really a tasteful reduction in jewelry by comparison, haha. I imagine much of it has cultural significance (e.g. they always have tail and neck rings and might have different ones for different occasions?) But I am just making this stuff up.

@Vid – I think you’re right about what a Torc is, now that you mention it.

My impression of Drae culture is that they tend to put rings on just about everything (Oh Mai there’s a frightful thought). I’m rather surprised at not seeing piercings as well – I don’t think I’ve even seen earrings on the models. Maybe they have some sort of taboo against breaking the skin. Otherwise, given the propensity for here-a-ring, there-a-ring, I’d expect to see some pretty prickly Draenai out there.

My impression of Drae culture is that they tend to put rings on just about everything (Oh Mai there’s a frightful thought).

Hahaha. Thanks for the laugh out loud moment, Grimm. Let’s keep it PG now, this isn’t that kind of blog! Haha.

In all seriousness, I don’t know! I wonder sometimes if Blizz laughs at the level of speculation we’ll go to, when the real truth is more like “we didn’t have the pixels for that” or “we just never thought of it.” Still, I am intrigued by the taboo idea. It also reminded me in a very general way of this comic from Complex Actions:

Do you want a real answer as to why they probably wouldn’t wear shoes like that? >.>

While many horses wear shoes, it’s a trade off–sure, you reduce the wear, which in a working animal is a concern, but you also reduce their grip (shod horses on a road can slip!) and thier ability to absorb concussion. I’m sure this is even more the case in a cloven hooved an..er…being, the ability of the hooves to spread about contributing quite a bit to their traction.

Thus, I hypothisize that metal “hoofshoes” for a Draenei would be impractical. >.>

For this image I surmise maybe they could be adhered on there for a short period of time for such a special occasion. Much as I recall my bridesmaids limping across the grass because the high-heels they’d chosen were killing them, I guess we all do silly things in the name of fashion! (Except I wore super practical and comfortable shoes since nobody could see them anyway. Cheats!) More realistically, I could see draenei accessorizing with elaborate anklets that wrap around the leg/hoof and wouldn’t impede their movement or traction. For this once, I use fantasy to mean highly improbable. ;)

Hee! I suppose there could be temporarily glued on things, sure. I never stopped to think of it from “fashion” standpoint.

But continuing in that trend, you could paint them, too! In fact, since I’mn sure they’re relatively LARGE feet in the scheme of things, you could get pretty elaborate with that. Scenery! Painted on your feet!

Oh, how pretty! I’m intrigued by how you’ve got her facial tendrils wrapped back up into her hair. And of course hoof shoes :D

For a Tauren wedding, hmm… I think the Spring Robes from Noblegarden make a very nice bridal robe for a Tauren girl already, especially if you imagine them being made of a soft, carefully tanned and bleached leather. Perhaps she would even have hunted the animals and done the tanning herself. I think her groom might wear the Ceremonial Leather Harness, or something very much like it. Kirina has suggested this combination for a tropical/Troll themed wedding, but I like it a lot for Tauren, too. The traditional Tauren wedding costume might also incorporate tribal or clan emblems in the form of headdresses, necklaces, and bracelets/armbands. Or perhaps each tribe or clan has a unique and distinctive pattern of beading for the decoration of the groom’s breastplate and the top part of the bride’s robe.

You are such a keen observer, Kamalia! These are the things I think about while I’m drawing, haha. It seems to me that although on in-game models it’s not practical, why wouldn’t the draenei arrange their facial tendrils/tentacles? They could be linked together or just behind the neck or used in an up-do, why not? Again, I just make stuff up, though.

I hadn’t seen Kirina’s tropical/Troll wedding, how fun! I could definitely imagine a Tauren wedding involving many ceremonial items, perhaps even crafting them (either for yourself or a fiance/e) could actually be a part of the engagement itself.

Of course metal hoofshoes would be impractical! So are spike heels, and all sorts of other footwear. This is a special occasion, afterall, and she can kick off her shoes when the dancing starts. I love the glint of gold setting off her hooves under the swishing skirts.

I also love the horn ornaments, and the overall color scheme, and — it’s just lovely!

Thank you, Astoreth, and thanks for dropping by! I have to concede to the impracticality of hoofshoes, but sometimes I get carried away with these flights of fancy. I’m also not much of a spike heel wearer in real life – I wonder if a draenei would hate hoof shoes the way I hate heels, haha.

Yeah, the Troll wedding would be fun. I can picture it in my head, but I lack the mental capacity to describe it well (I’m an engineer, damnit. Werdz R Hard!) I mostly imagine a mix of troll-esque shamanism mixed with da voooodooo, mon!
Also, good call on the women with skulls in the hair!

Depending on what orcs you brought to the ceremony, I would imagine what was worn would be very different. Although not much of an RP’er, I still kind of imagine my Orc as a battle-hardened DK, with minimal sense of the finer, softer things in life. Although I also imagine that he would have the respect to clean up his gear and not bring weaponry to such an event. Maybe a more ornate axe than one used for battle? (The blood never gets cleaned off of THAT axe! ;) )
Someone like my Shaman would probably be a lot more traditional and probably somewhat similar to a Dranei one… although probably with more brown/earthy colours as opposed to purple. :)

That’s lovely! I’ve long wished for an option to add ornaments to Draenei horns, simple beads or pendants. I remember when I first started playing and kept zooming in on my character, trying to see her necklace and being disappointed that I couldn’t.

I do love the detail you’ve worked into this piece, it shows your love for the Draenei culture so much. :D Purple is a most excellent color choice, too. And suitable, of course!

The discussion in the comments about other races and what they would wear is very interesting. Draenei are the most exotic, of course, but I think it’d be a really cool idea to see what you imagined other races would wear. *hint, hint* ;)

I love the setting too. I assume this is one of those bizarre floating islands in Nagrand?

Ahaha. Your subtle hint, I am getting it! I’ll think about it! Naturally other folks with more specific race-love than I have imagined specifics, but I suppose I could do something interpretive! Maybe. Later. No guarantees.

My female orc would wear leather/chainmail, but not too much – maybe a Ceremonial Leather Harness or something along these lines. Or the old troll starter shirt and skirt (primitive mantle, primitive kilt, in blue). Or any of the other, similar-themed low level robes. Probably some of the more impressive shoulder armor she has lying around, and definitly a big weapon. Or two big weapons. Big weapons are good.

She would be demonstrating what a good mate she makes, so things that show off how powerful she is. Certainly nothing frilly or unpractical.

I think fur might feature into it, too. … or was that after the wedding?

I don’t think she’d do anything special with her hair, rather, leave it braided (butt-long hair can be very annoying, after all, and you wouldn’t want it to get in the way later, either. *g*)

I can definitely imagine Orc wedding customs emphasizing practical demonstrations of one’s suitability as a mate — one’s best armor and weapons, perhaps a fur cloak to show off one’s hunting prowess, not too much clothing so as to display one’s physique ;) Maybe body paint? Or would that be more of a Troll thing?

Lis has a hanbok that a friend gave her that she’d probably wear – dark green and pink, you know the one. ;) She’s not the dress-wearing type, but if she was going to be dressing up for a ceremony like that, she’d probably wear the dress, and keep her hair down. It is VERY long, and wavy. Maybe some flowers in it.

On the other hand, if it was a more casual affair, she’d just wear her armour (cleaned, of course) or a tunic and trousers.

Very pretty pretty picture you drew there, as usual . :D
I especially love the horns ornaments, and the jewelry pattern on the skirt.

My favorite race is Draenei (isn’t it obvious from my icon? ;) ), but i think they might wear cream, ivory or white for their dresses and suits, with touches of pale blue or lilac and gold/silvery decorations and jewelry. Mostly because they revere the Naruu, and they are beings of pure Light… hence the love for luminous and pale colors.

[…] 4, 2011 by kamaliaetalia On Tuesday, Vidyala posted her gorgeous imagining of what a Draenei wedding gown might look like. She ended her post with a question: If you don’t like draenei (what’s wrong […]

[…] shorter than average, having a different body type, scars and/or tattoos, excessive jewelry (like a Draenei I know) or the complete lack of jewelry (useful for characters like Trolls for whom the model always has […]